Taylor Swift to Direct Her First Movie

Taylor Swift is set to direct her first feature-length movie. Variety reports that the multi-hyphenate will handle a project for Searchlight Pictures. Unfortunately for fans, there aren’t many other cast or production details at the moment. One particularly interesting nugget is that the script is being written by Swift herself. That will probably get the legion of her fans into the seats be it on streaming or in theaters. (Let’s hope they can actually get tickets to this one!) On the directing resume for Swift are a couple of her music videos and All Too Well: The Short Film. At the 2022 Tribecca Film Festival, she talked to filmmaker Mike Mills about the experience and hinted that she could attempt this kind of project.

“It would be so fantastic to write and direct something… a feature,” she said according to Variety. “I don’t see it being bigger, in terms of scale. I loved making a film that was so intimate.”

In some other comments, Swift talked about how daunting directing a big movie could be. “I was always curious,” the star continued. “I started to venture into the edit [for music videos] and making changes and meddling… it started with meddling.”

Before signing up with Searchlight, the topic of imposter syndrome came up with Mills. “I had this imposter syndrome in my head saying, ‘No, you don’t do that. Other people do that who went to school to do that,” Swift began before the other director explained he never went to school for film. “Oh! It’s fantastic to know that. That makes me feel better. Don’t you feel like it’s an amazing exercise in trusting gut instinct? There are so many decisions you have to make. Saying ‘I don’t know’ really isn’t an option most of the time.”

The Grammy winner explained why Sadie Sink’s character was a writer in that conversation as well. “It’s one of the narrative devices I loved sprinkling through the short film,” Swift said. “There’s this red typewriter. We meet [O’Brien’s character] for the first time; we pan across a red typewriter. Later on, we see her typing on that typewriter. We assume he gave it to her: she complimented it, and he gave it to her. He’s taken a lot from her in the course of this [song], but he’s also given her something: this dream and hope of being a writer. This experience is what galvanized her life and career.”

Would you watch a Taylor Swift film? Let us know down in the comments!